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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465892">Adika's Promotion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/foobar137/pseuds/foobar137'>foobar137</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Moving, New Job, Personal Growth, Promotions, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:19:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465892</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/foobar137/pseuds/foobar137</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adika's doing the best he can on Mira's strike team, but there's no way for him to be promoted unless someone he works with dies.  Until his Strike Team Leader calls him in to inform him of a new opportunity...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Adika's Promotion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p3">“He’s hoping to stay hidden on the walkway above the air pumps,” Mira said, her eyes closed.The strike team was gathered around her protectively as she sat in the corner of the room on Industry 50, just above the bulky and dangerous infrastructure of Level 0.Adika shifted his weight from side to side as he waited.</p><p class="p3">“It’s a nightmare scenario to try to take him down there,” Zander said.Zander had been Mira’s strike team leader for ten years now, and Adika knew he didn’t use words like ‘nightmare’ loosely.“Bad footing, and if somebody falls they’re dead.Can we shut down the air pumps?”</p><p class="p3">“If we need to,” Tania said over the crystal comms from the liaison office.“But only for a very short period of time, if we absolutely must.”</p><p class="p3">“We need to flush him out of there, then,” Everett said from the tactical office.“Mira, he knows somebody’s after him.Does he hope to stand and fight, or get away?”</p><p class="p3">“Get away,” Mira said instantly.“He thinks nobody will find him up there, but if somebody does come along, he’ll try to sneak away before they notice him.”</p><p class="p3">“Okay, Everett…”Zander started.</p><p class="p3">“You need a good spot for an ambush,” Everett finished.After working together for ten years, they anticipated each other’s needs, and Adika shook his head on how closely their thought processes ran.“Working on it…okay, got it.Sending to your dataview.Liaison, make sure the way is clear.”</p><p class="p3">“We cleared out that area as soon as he started heading this way,” Tania said.</p><p class="p3">Zander unfurled his screen and looked at it before nodding.“Thank you.Splitting chase team.Adika, you take blue squad and set up an ambush in the mechanics’ locker room at 9650/310 Level 0.Keep in contact with Everett and tactical to get positioned properly.I’ll take red squad and wait until you’re in position, and then drive him your way.”</p><p class="p3">“Got it,” Adika said, waving toward the half-dozen people who were blue squad.Zander split the team often enough, and Mira liked consistency enough, that there were three regular sub-groups of both the Alpha and Beta teams.On Alpha team, Zander himself usually led red squad, Zander’s deputy Hammer was in charge of the bodyguard squad, and Adika as de facto third in command got blue squad.</p><p class="p3">He led them toward the nearest lift, where he entered the code to access Level 0.A moment later, the doors opened to the mechanical interlevel.</p><p class="p3">The locker room didn’t give a lot of cover, but they were able to find spots for the team to hide.Adika took the spot closest to the exit door, where he’d plug the hole once the target entered the room.It was important not to block the way out until they could block the way in behind him as well.</p><p class="p3">Zander had a policy of never making the rest of the team take a risk you wouldn’t take yourself, and Adika knew it was part of why the strike team was so loyal to him.Adika followed suit, as the exit door position was the highest-risk by far.</p><p class="p3">“Blue squad in position,” he said over crystal comms.</p><p class="p3">“Red squad in position,” Zander said.“Call the strike, Everett.”</p><p class="p3">“Looks good.Strike time!Mira, stay with the target until he starts moving, and let us know if he decides to fight back,” Everett said.</p><p class="p3">“Understood.He hears red squad and is trying to sneak away.”</p><p class="p3">“He’s coming your way, Adika,” Zander said.</p><p class="p3">“He’s off the walkway and running toward the locker room.Starting circuit,” Mira said, then started chanting the names of the squad.Adika always got a small thrill when his name came up, knowing that Mira was keeping an eye on him and making sure he was safe.</p><p class="p3">A few seconds later, a young man in a hasty uniform - no, combat armor that looked like a hasty uniform, with the hood up - came tearing around a corner into the locker room.</p><p class="p3">The rest of the squad popped from their hiding places and fired.“Aim for the forehead, he’s got combat armor,” Adika said as he opened fire himself, stepping into the doorway.</p><p class="p3">The target huddled down to make a smaller target, and the stun blasts seemed to bounce off his armor.He lowered his shoulder as if to run through Adika, who dropped his gun and prepared to grapple.</p><p class="p3">The man was strong, with some self-defense training, but no match for a trained strike team member.The two of them went down and rolled, the target struggling to get free as Adika tried to pull down his hood.</p><p class="p3">The hood slid back, and a stun blast from the side caused the target to go limp.Adika took a deep breath as he stood up, while the rest of the squad restrained the target.“Target is down.”</p><p class="p3">“I’m sorry,” Mira said quickly.“I didn’t realize he had combat armor…”</p><p class="p3">“It’s okay,” Everett said.“He wasn’t thinking about that, clearly.I should have asked you to check, since we knew he’d run from Level 20.”</p><p class="p3">“I should have noticed.”</p><p class="p3">“It’s okay.”</p><hr/><p class="p3">Adika sat in the unit park with his eyes closed, letting the smell of the flowers waft over him.The central part of the park had a dozen planters full of flowers marking off sections of it, with benches positioned near each of them.</p><p class="p3">He particularly liked this bench.He wasn’t sure which flowers these were, but they smelled nice, and their bright colors made for a pleasant view.He had a short break while the unit was in recovery after yesterday’s emergency run, and he wasn’t in the mood to spend it sitting in his room.Soon enough, he’d have to go to the unit’s gym to train, but for right now, he could just sit.</p><p class="p3">His dataview chimed, and he unfurled it.A message from Zander came up, “Come see me.”</p><p class="p3">He muttered to himself as he stowed it and headed toward Zander’s office, wondering what was up.The last run had gone fine; the only reason there had been any problem was that they hadn’t realized the target had stolen some combat armor.Adika couldn’t be in trouble for that.</p><p class="p3">He reached the door and chimed, and the door opened.Zander was smiling, and gestured Adika to a seat.<em>So, evidently not an issue with the last run?</em></p><p class="p3">“I know you’ve been positioning yourself for promotion in case anything happens to me or one of my deputies,” Zander said.“You’ve been effectively Hammer’s deputy on Alpha team, and my lead candidate to move up if something happened to him, or to Jaymi on Beta.”</p><p class="p3">Adika nodded, confused.“Thank you.”</p><p class="p3">“Morton’s strike team leader is retiring, the last one imprinted as strike team leader when he came out of Lottery in 2492.Katelyn, the new team leader, is looking for somebody new to help reinvigorate the unit.She has asked us to send a candidate over for deputy strike team leader.I’ve chosen you as our candidate.”</p><p class="p3"><em>Deputy, finally…</em> Adika thought before quashing the thought.“Thank you, Zander.I’d like to talk to Mira first, but if she’s okay with it, I’ll do it.”</p><p class="p3">“By all means.”</p><p class="p3">Adika thought for a moment.“Why us?Why not one of the other telepath units?”</p><p class="p3">“I can’t say for certain, but my guess is that Claire’s people are too old, Olivia’s are too new, and Morton does not care for how Keith and Sapphire run their units.Morton may have strong opinions, but he has nothing to complain about with how Mira runs this unit.”</p><hr/><p class="p3">“Good afternoon, Geo.May I speak with Mira?” Adika said after Mira’s husband answered the door to their apartment.</p><p class="p3">“She’s waiting for you in the park,” Geo said with a grin.</p><p class="p3">“Ah.Thank you.”The door closed, and Adika walked toward the unit park.Of course Mira would know what was coming.Zander would have warned her ahead of time, at a minimum.She didn’t cope well with surprises.</p><p class="p3">He looked around at the flowers, thinking how much he’d miss them.Maybe he shouldn’t take the transfer.Maybe…</p><p class="p3">“You should definitely take the transfer, Adika,” Mira said from a nearby bench.</p><p class="p3">“I’m sorry, I…”</p><p class="p3">“You have nothing to be sorry for.Come and sit.”</p><p class="p3">He sat next to her on the bench, trying to find the words.</p><p class="p3">“It’s okay,” she said.“One of the things that Geo has taught me about plants is that sometimes, you need to move them to let them grow.My unit is like a too-small pot for you now.You aren’t finding what you need here.I suggested you to Zander when he told me of the opening on Morton’s team.You need to move up, and find new ways to grow.”</p><p class="p3">“I hate to leave you, though.”</p><p class="p3">“I will be fine.I can adjust.I’m not the scared girl I was ten years ago.”</p><p class="p3">“No, you aren’t.”He smiled at her.“Thank you, Mira.”</p><hr/><p class="p1">The express belts had never seemed so slow, Adika thought.It wasn’t very far - just two zones away from Mira’s unit over Blue Zone to Morton’s over Purple Zone.But, for the first time, he was going into another telepath’s unit.He’d been part of Mira’s unit since Lottery, ten years ago.</p><p class="p1">Ten years.He hadn’t really thought about how long that was, because he ended up dealing with it all one day at a time.And yet, it had been a good ten years.Not perfect.He hadn’t found that special someone yet.He’d been Penelope’s dance partner, before she’d gone off to Sapphire’s unit, but there had never been any romance between them.(Although she had had fantastic legs, from all the dancing.)He’d spent some time with Alli in Liaison, but they’d decided it wasn’t going to work and parted as friends.He needed somebody who would push back harder when he started pushing, and Alli was just too…nice.</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Maybe Morton’s unit can give me a new start.There’s no way up in Mira’s unit without somebody I work with closely dying.And there’s nobody there that seems like a good fit for me to settle down with.</em>
</p><p class="p1">That was the issue, he realized.There wasn’t anyone in Mira’s unit that would be a good fit for him, and there couldn’t be.The only people in Mira’s unit who were that prone to pushing back were on the strike team, and they were out of bounds even if he were interested in other men.</p><p class="p1">He reached the last belt gap, and a jump took him into Purple Zone.He found the telepath unit’s express lifts, and pressed the call button on lift one, as he’d been instructed.</p><p class="p3">The lift took him up, far too quickly for his nerves right now.The doors opened, and he was looking at a tall young woman, just a few years out of Lottery.Her jacket was slightly open, revealing that she had a gun underneath it, twin to Adika’s own.Even now, off-duty and visiting another telepath’s unit, Adika had his armor on and his gun in his holster.</p><p class="p3">“Adika?” the young woman said.</p><p class="p3">“Yes.”</p><p class="p3">“I’m Mhairi.Please wait here for a moment for Morton to scan you, before you meet with Katelyn.”</p><p class="p3">“Of course.”<em>Hello, sir,</em> he said in his mind.<em>I hope that I can help you serve the Hive.</em></p><p class="p3">Mhairi touched her ear crystal.“Okay.Follow me, please.”</p><p class="p3">He followed her, noticing the differences from Mira’s unit.The decoration was much more austere here, without the colorful paintings on Mira’s walls.Everything was spotlessly clean.Not that he’d have expected less in a telepath unit, but it seemed somehow even more so than Mira’s unit.</p><p class="p3">After a moment, they reached a door marked ‘Katelyn - Strike Team Leader’.The young woman touched the comm button, and the door slid open.“Come in, Adika,” a firm contralto voice said.</p><p class="p3">Katelyn was a large woman, as he expected, tall and muscular, but certainly not unattractive.She was, of course, completely off-limits for him whether he got this position or not - either she’d be his boss, or she’d be in a different telepath unit, so he kept his thoughts off of that and focused on the job.He took the seat she gestured to, and waited calmly.</p><p class="p3">“Zander is very pleased with you, and thinks you’d be an asset to our unit.How do you think you can help most?”</p><p class="p3">“I’d need to know what issues you’re having to give a good answer.”</p><p class="p3">“Of course.Hypothetically, what sorts of issues would you be looking for as a deputy?”</p><p class="p3">“Well, my first concern would be making sure all the team members are fully fit for duty.It’s easy to keep the Strike Team on track with their workouts for the first two years or so, but then there’s a tendency for some to start slacking.Usually it self-corrects the first time they find their abilities lacking on a run, but ideally it should be caught before that.”</p><p class="p3">“Of course.What else?”</p><p class="p3">“I’d want to see where the strike team has had issues on recent runs, to see if there’s training that is being missed.Did somebody have to deal with an incident involving fire, for example, and didn’t realize that smoke goes up?”</p><p class="p3">“Not a hypothetical question, as I understand it.”</p><p class="p3">“Not at all.Hammer was very thorough in making sure we had training in handling fires after that.”</p><p class="p3">Katelyn nodded.“Do you have any problems working for a woman?”</p><p class="p3">“I work for Mira now.”</p><p class="p3">“Any problems with a female Strike Team leader?”</p><p class="p3">“None.You’re clearly capable or you wouldn’t have been promoted.Of all the telepaths in the Hive, I’d expect Morton to be the most thorough at making sure his team members are the best available.Does he have any issues with me being a male on his Strike Team?”</p><p class="p3">“No, just don’t expect to end up on bodyguard duty.What have you heard about Morton?”</p><p class="p3"><em>Waste it.Set myself up.</em>“He’s the second-oldest telepath in the Hive, and is known for being very dedicated.His focus is on doing the right thing for the Hive, to the exclusion of all else.”</p><p class="p3">“Interesting.As opposed to?”</p><p class="p3"><em>Waste it!I don’t want to badmouth telepaths during an interview.I wonder if Morton is scanning me now.Oh well, best he see me as I really am.</em>Adika tried to pick his words carefully.“Mira’s limitations sometimes force her to choose her mental comfort over what’s best for the Hive.Claire is also dedicated, but doesn’t have quite as strong a sense of propriety.Olivia is having issues with fragmentation, as I understand it.Keith’s telepathy is intermittent and he’s still distant.Sapphire is highly dedicated but is choosing her pride over the good of the Hive in refusing to work with Keith.”</p><p class="p3">She looked at him quietly for a long moment, then smiled.“Morton says that he’d like to have you, if you’re willing to switch units.”</p><p class="p3">He took a long breath and nodded.<em>Time to move to a larger pot.</em>“I’m in.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Updated to fix the zone ordering; for some reason, I was thinking that Purple and Violet Zones were north of Burgundy instead of at the extreme southern end.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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